Rethinking Dimensions of Democracy for Empirical Analysis

Authenticity, Quality, Depth, and Consolidation

Bibliographic Data

ID6233082
AuthorsRobert M Fishman (0000-0002-0484-584X, Department of Social Sciences, Carlos III University, 28903 Getafe (Madrid), Spain, corresponding author)
Year2016
Volume19
Issue1
Pages289-309
Publication date2016-05-11
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueAnnual Review of Political Science (BOOK_SERIES)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1094-2939 • E-ISSN: 1545-1577
PublisherAnnual Reviews (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1146/annurev-polisci-042114-015910
OpenAlexW2309911549
LanguageEN
Citations received22
References cited65

This article analyzes the scholarship on variation among democracies and offers a proposal intended to address the relative lack of consensus over the fundamental conceptual infrastructure underpinning this literature. The framework introduced here differentiates between four dimensions of democracy: authenticity, quality, depth and consolidation—arguing that they may vary with some independence from one another. This approach simultaneously addresses concerns of normative and empirical democratic theory, rooting the conceptualization of democracy's dimensions in central aspirations that motivate normative theorists and political actors. The distinction between authenticity and quality as formulated here centers on the difference between standards understood to be required for membership in the democratic genus and normatively valued goals that surpass such standards. Work on democratic depth, as formulated here, addresses concerns over the possible tension between “minimalist” operational definitions and the underlying idea of democracy with its emphasis on political equality and rule by the people

Conceptualization · Consolidation (business · Democracy · Democratic consolidation · Democratization · Economics · Epistemology · Law and economics · Normative · Political science · Politics · Positive economics · Scholarship · Sociology · Underpinning · Computer Science · Electoral Systems and Political Participation · Law · Political Conflict and Governance · Political Philosophy and Ethics